Economics · Lesson Plan
Attaching Value to Money
Lesson 2 of MoneyInstructor-nomics asks a deceptively simple question: what gives money its value? Through a series of bartering role-plays — first trading real items, then blank slips of paper, then dollar bills — students discover that money has value only because people agree to accept it. The lesson builds the bridge from barter to currency and sets up the classroom economy, finishing with an activity sheet on barter and earning classroom money.
For Teachers
Lesson at a glance
- Topic
- Economics
- Grade Level
- Grades 3–8
- Resource Type
- Lesson + Worksheet
- Estimated Time
- 45–60 minutes
- Format
- Lesson + activity
- Materials
- Printable lesson, activity sheet, classroom currency
What Students Learn
Learning objectives
- Define barter as exchanging goods or services for other goods or services
- Define money as a medium of exchange for goods and services
- Explain how money gets its value
- Generate goods and services that classroom currency could buy
- Begin to associate value with classroom currency
Materials
What you’ll need
- Printed lesson and activity sheet (one per student)
- Blank slips of paper cut to dollar-bill size
- A few real dollar bills for the demonstration
- Small items or rewards to barter (pencils, erasers, passes)
Key Terms
Vocabulary
- Barter
- Trading goods or services in exchange for other goods or services.
- Money
- A medium of exchange used to buy goods and services.
- Medium of exchange
- Something widely accepted in trade for goods and services.
- Value
- The worth money has because people agree to accept it.
- Currency
- The accepted, uniform money used in an economy.
- Goods and services
- The things and work that money can be traded for.
For Teachers
Lesson plan
Estimated time: one 45–60 minute class period.
Lesson sequence
- Barter role-play (12 min). Act out trades (an eraser for a pencil, chips for a dessert); name what students are doing — bartering.
- Paper vs. dollars (15 min). Try to barter blank slips of paper, then real dollars; discuss why students won’t trade something valuable for plain paper.
- What gives money value? (10 min). Lead students to see that money has value because people agree to accept it — especially if it can buy class rewards and is earned through work.
- Activity sheet (10 min). Students describe a barter situation and list classroom jobs they could do to earn classroom currency.
Assessment
Assess the completed activity sheet for a clear barter example and reasonable ideas for earning classroom money.
Discussion
Discussion questions
- What does it mean to barter?
- What is money, and what is it used for?
- Why does a blank slip of paper have no value, but a dollar does?
- What makes good classroom currency?
- What jobs could you do to earn classroom money?
Printable Lesson & Activity
Attaching Value to Money — Lesson & Activity Sheet
A printable MoneyInstructor-nomics lesson with barter role-plays that build from trading goods to understanding currency, plus a student activity sheet.
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